Kansas Legislators Conclude Higher Education Tour

Kansas legislators say a two-week tour of the state’s public colleges and universities has provided a good exchange of information ahead of their 2014 session.

Members of the House Appropriations and Senate Ways and Means committees finished the tour Wednesday at two campuses of the University of Kansas.

Lawmakers submitted dozens of detailed questions to higher education officials about universities’ budgeting ahead of the tour, and they’ve received more than 200 pages of answers. But in the past, tours of campuses, prisons and state hospitals have allowed legislators to judge conditions for themselves and talk to workers, inmates and patients.

Senate Ways and Means Chairman Ty Masterson says the visits with campus leaders are giving legislators the answers to questions about allocating state funds.